File spoon-archives/aut-op-sy.archive/aut-op-sy_1997/97-01-19.114, message 71


From: "Curtis Price" <cansv-AT-igc.apc.org>
Date:          Mon, 13 Jan 1997 07:13:37 +0000
Subject:       (Fwd) [72] SOUTH KOREAN LABOR PROTESTS INTENSIFY, CLASHES IN F


------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date:          Sat, 11 Jan 1997 23:53:36 -0500
From:          NewsHound-AT-sjmercury.com (NewsHound)

Subject:       [72] SOUTH KOREAN LABOR PROTESTS INTENSIFY, CLASHES IN FOUR CITIES

Selected by your NewsHound profile entitled "RIOTS". The selectivity score was 
72 out of 100.

South Korean labor protests intensify, clashes in four cities
By JU-YEON KIM

Associated Press Writer

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- The government appealed Sunday for talks with 
outlawed labor unions, following clashes a day earlier between police and 
protesters in Seoul and four other cities.

Striking workers called the request a government ``decoy.'' They said they will 
push on with plans for a bigger strike, involving a public sector, unless 
President Kim Young-sam agrees to repeal a contested new labor law.

A sense of crisis was building in the government as the 18-day-old strike showed
 no signs of easing and as violence intensified.

The government indicated Sunday that it may be willing to revise the disputed 
new labor law, which protesters say threatens their job security. The law makes 
it easier for companies to fire employees, while limiting employees' union 
rights for three to five years.

The government's offer for talks with the outlawed groups was unexpected and a 
sense of crisis as labor protests continued to spread, despite its earlier 
predictions that they would subside because of a lack of public support.

Lee Hong-ku, the ruling party's No. 2 man, proposed open talks on television 
with labor leaders.

Government officials were unnerved as religious groups, opposition parties and 
professors -- as well as international labor groups -- threw their weight behind
 South Korean workers and cautioned against a government crackdown.

``The government must first abolish the bad law, then we will be willing to 
talk,'' said Kwon Young-gil, head of the outlawed Confederation of Trade Unions,
 which is organizing the widespread protests.

Opposition parties demanded an immediate meeting with President Kim, saying the 
protest is a ``crisis that is getting out of hand.''

Officials at the ruling New Korea Party said they consider revising the law if 
opposition parties submit a draft revision, but insisted that the law must first
 be enforced.

In central Seoul, police fired tear gas to disperse 20,000 protesters marching 
in the streets Saturday after a rally at a park.

``Crush Kim Young-sam!'' marchers shouted. They included many white-collar 
workers, who rarely participate in street protests in South Korea.

As riot police fired staccato volleys of tear gas, many shoppers, teen-age 
students, and other onlookers cheered the protesters.

``Go back!'' hundreds of onlookers shouted at police deployed nearby.

Witnesses reported seeing injuries but a number was not available.

It was the most violent street protest since ruling party legislators passed the
 disputed law on Dec. 26 in a secret session, with no opposition members 
present. The protests have become South Korea's largest organized labor strike.

In the southeastern city of Ulsan, 10,000 strikers rallied but no violence was 
reported. Protests were also reported in Kwangju, Taegu and Bupyong.

The clashes in Seoul continued into the night Saturday, with tear gas flares 
lighting up the sky. An eight-lane street was littered with rocks and empty 
tear-gas canisters, and bonfires lit by students burned brightly.

Marchers were broken into several groups by the roughly 5,000 police. Many 
headed to a cathedral where labor leaders were gathered.

Prosecutors confirmed plans to arrest 20 union leaders.

Also Saturday, nearly 2,000 religious, educational, and civic leaders issued a 
statement supporting the strikes. Surveys by citizens groups and newspapers show
 that the majority of people are unhappy with the way the government enacted the
 law.

The strike has crippled many export plants, notably in the auto and shipbuilding
 industries, the backbone of the South Korean economy.

South Korea's largest car maker, Hyundai Motor Co., shut its plant Friday, 
saying it has suffered $465 million in lost production and cannot afford to stay
 open. Hyundai workers said they will ignore the company's shutdown and gather 
at the plant Monday.

Also striking are journalists, shipyard workers, nurses, credit card company 
employees, and assembly line workers.

Union leaders said the strikes would expand to include workers from the subways,
 the national mint, and telecommunications unless the government relents by 
Tuesday.

The strike was also gaining international support.

``Your struggle is our struggle,'' Marcello Malentacchi, a representative of the
 Brussels-based ICFTU -- the world's largest free trade union -- told the Seoul 
rally.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a Paris-based group 
of industrialized countries that Seoul joined in December, and other 
international groups pressed for a resolution.

AP-WS-01-11-97 2233EST


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